The Mesenchymal Stromal Cells from umbilical cord Wharton's jelly (WJSCs) are a source of cells with high potentiality for the treatment of human immunological disorders. Footprints of the oncogenic viruses Simian Virus 40 (SV40) and JC Virus (JCPyV) have been recently detected in human WJSCs specimens. The aim of this study is to evaluate if WJSCs can be efficiently infected by these Polyomaviruses and if they can potentially exert tumoral activity. Cell culture experiments indicated that WJSCs could sustain both SV40 and JCPyV infections...

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare myeloid malignancy with no defined standard of care. BPDCN presents most commonly with skin lesions with or without extramedullary organ involvement before leukemic dissemination. As a result of its clinical ambiguity, differentiating BPDCN from benign skin lesions or those of acute myeloid leukemia with leukemia cutis is challenging. BPDCN is most easily defined by the phenotype CD4(+)CD56(+)CD123(+)lineage(-)MPO(-), although many patients will present with variable expression of CD4, CD56, or alternate plasmacytoid markers, which compounds the difficulty in differentiating BPDCN from other myeloid or lymphoid malignancies...

BACKGROUND: In contrast to eosinophils and neutrophils, the regulation of the lifespan of human basophils is poorly defined, with the exception of the potent anti-apoptotic effect of IL-3 that also promotes pro-inflammatory effector functions and phenotypic changes. Type I IFNs (IFN-α, IFN-β), which are well known for their anti-viral activities, have the capacity to inhibit allergic inflammation. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate whether type I IFNs have the potential to abrogate the lifespan and/or effector functions of human basophils...

BACKGROUND: Inherited and acquired marrow failure syndromes most commonly lead to defect in myeloid and/or neutrophil differentiation and/or function. Besides this, neutropenia induced by cancer-adjusted chemotherapy is a frequent clinical problem. In both cases, cell replacement therapy is a well-established, but due to necessity of donors limited and perilous procedure. Therefore, autologous cell replacement from patients' own marrow-derived cells lowers risk and bares new possibilities for therapy...

In addition to increased morbidity and mortality caused by respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, air pollution may also contribute to central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Traffic-related air pollution is a major contributor to global air pollution, and diesel exhaust (DE) is its most important component. DE contains more than 40 toxic air pollutants and is a major constituent of ambient particulate matter (PM), particularly of ultrafine-PM. Limited information suggests that exposure to DE may cause oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in the CNS...

Hematopoietic therapies require high cell dosages and precise phenotype control for clinical success; scalable manufacturing processes therefore need to be economic and controllable, in particular with respect to culture medium and growth factor (GF) strategy. The aim of this work was to demonstrate the biological function, and integration within scalable systems, of a highly controllable immobilized growth factor (iGF) approach. GFs were biotinylated and attached to streptavidin coated magnetic particles. GF concentration during biotinylation, GF-biotin ratio, and GF lysine content were shown to control iGF surface concentration and enable predictable co-presentation of multiple GF on a single bead...

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a well-characterized growth factor in hematopoietic cells, but it is also expressed in other cell types with poorly described functions. Many studies have provided evidence that IL-3 plays an important role in cell survival. We have previously shown that IL-3 is able to increase glucose uptake in HEK293 cells, suggesting that this factor requires sustained glucose metabolism to promote cell survival. In this study, we demonstrate that IL-3 contributes to cell survival under oxidative stress, a prominent feature in the pathophysiology of cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in the aging process...

Eosinophils represent approximately 1% of peripheral blood leukocytes in normal donors and their maturation and differentiation in the bone marrow are mainly regulated by interleukin (IL)-5 [Broughton et al. 2015]. IL-5, a cytokine that belongs to the β common-chain family, together with IL-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), stimulates also the activation and survival of eosinophils and, to some extent, of basophils. IL-5 binds to a heterodimer receptor composed of the specific subunit IL-5Rα and a common subunit βc shared with IL-3 and GM-CSF...

Basophils represent <1% of circulating leukocytes. They play a crucial role during allergy and helminth-induced Th2 responses. However, recent data also suggest a contribution to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Basophils from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus show an activated phenotype, correlating to disease activity. Furthermore, murine basophils or their mediators enhance memory responses and plasma cell (PC) survival, suggesting that they directly modulate the function of B cells. This is highly relevant with respect to human allergy and autoimmunity because a possible modulation of B cell differentiation by basophils could point to new therapeutic targets...

A new series of cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes of N^C^N ligands, where N^C^N = 1,3-bis(1-n-alkylpyrazol-3-yl)benzene (bpzb), namely, [Pt(bpzb)Cl] (1 and 2) and [Pt(bpzb)(C≡C-R)] (3-10) (R = C6H5, C6H4-OCH3-p, C6H4-NO2-p, C6H4-NH2-p, 4-cholesteryl phenyl carbamate, and cholesteryl methylcarbamate) were synthesized and characterized. Their electrochemical and photophysical properties were investigated. Two of the platinum(II) complexes were also structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography, and short intermolecular C-H···Pt contacts were observed...

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), which overproduce blood cells in the bone marrow, have recently been linked with a genetically determined decrease in expression of the MYB transcription factor. Here, we use a mouse MYB knockdown model with an MPN-like phenotype to show how lower levels of MYB lead to stem cell characteristics in myeloid progenitors. The altered progenitor properties feature elevated cytokine responsiveness, especially to IL-3, which results from increased receptor expression and increased MAPK activity leading to enhanced phosphorylation of a key regulator of protein synthesis, ribosomal protein S6...

The mechanisms contributing to persistent eosinophil activation and poor eosinopenic response to glucocorticoids in severe asthma are poorly defined. We examined the effect of cytokines typically overexpressed in the asthmatic airways on glucocorticoid signaling in in vitro activated eosinophils. An annexin V assay used to measure eosinophil apoptosis showed that cytokine combinations of IL-2 plus IL-4 as well as TNF-α plus IFN-γ, or IL-3, GM-CSF, and IL-5 alone significantly diminished the proapoptotic response to dexamethasone...

Little is known about the role of IL-3 in multiple sclerosis (MS) in humans and in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Using myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide-induced EAE, we show that CD4(+) T cells are the main source of IL-3 and that cerebral IL-3 expression correlates with the influx of T cells into the brain. Blockade of IL-3 with monoclonal antibodies, analysis of IL-3 deficient mice, and adoptive transfer of leukocytes demonstrate that IL-3 plays an important role for development of clinical symptoms of EAE, for migration of leukocytes into the brain, and for cerebral expression of adhesion molecules and chemokines...

BACKGROUND: Hemorrhagic shock (HS) is the major leading cause of death after trauma. Up to 50% of early deaths are due to massive hemorrhage. Excessive release of pro-inflammatory cytokine and hypercatecholamine induces hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) apoptosis, leading to multiorgan failure and death. However, still, result remains elusive for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) behavior in trauma HS (T/HS). OBJECTIVES: Therefore, our aim was to evaluate the in vitro HSCs behavior with or without recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), recombinant human granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF), recombinant human interleukin-3 (rhIL-3) alone, and combination with rhEPO + rhGM-CSF + rhIL-3 (EG3) in T/HS patients...

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell (PDC) neoplasm (BPDCN) is an aggressive hematological malignancy with a poor prognosis that derives from PDCs. No consensus for optimal treatment modalities is available today and the full characterization of this leukemia is still emerging. We identified here a BPDCN-specific transcriptomic profile when compared with those of acute myeloid leukemia and T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia, as well as the transcriptomic signature of primary PDCs. This BPDCN gene signature identified a dysregulation of genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis, some of them being liver X receptor (LXR) target genes...

To date, the major target of biologic therapeutics in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been the B cell, which produces pathogenic autoantibodies. Recently, targeting type I IFN, which is elaborated by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in response to endosomal TLR7 and TLR9 stimulation by SLE immune complexes, has shown promising results. pDCs express high levels of the IL-3Rα chain (CD123), suggesting an alternative potential targeting strategy. We have developed an anti-CD123 monoclonal antibody, CSL362, and show here that it affects key cell types and cytokines that contribute to SLE...